Knitting machine



Jan. 7, 1930. M. c. MILLER 1,742,925

KNITTING MACHINE Fild Sept. 15. 1926 Patented Jan. 7, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT? OFFICE KNITTING MACHINE Application filed September 15, 1926. Serial No. 135,572.

The invention relates to knitting machines and more particularly to spring needle machines using sinkers for measuring yarn and is herein disclosed as applied to a spring needle knitting machine having combination web holders and sinkers movable as a single unit and operating substantially at right angles to the needles.

In spring needle knitting machines using yarn feeding sinkers and especially in fine gage machines, considerable difliculty is encountered in causing the sinkers ,to operate freely and accurately between the needles without getting caught in the needle beard eyes, and in preventing the retracting needles from passing with their beards to the wrong side of the sinkers. Another difliculty is to insure enough space between the needles and the sinkers for the yarn which is sunk about the needle shanks. A further difliculty commonly met with when the sinkers and web holders are combined as one unit is to cause the long separating nib between the sinker portion and the knock-over portion of the interference, particularly if the needles or nibs are slightly bent.

The object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved mechanism which will eliminate the difliculties above noted and will be certain and accurate in operation.

With this object in view, one feature of the invention comprises a combined sinker and web holder of novel and improved construc tion which is particularly adapted to overcome the various above stated difiiculties.

Another feature of the invention contemplates a novel and improved mode of operation of the needles and sinkers in handling the yarn to render more certain and accurate the operation of these elements. The various features of the invention consist also in the devices, combinations, and arrangement of parts hereinafter described and claimed, and together with the advantages to be obtained thereby will be readily understood by one skilled in the art from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings, Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic unit to engage between the needles without view of the combination sinker and web holder which forms the subject matter of the present invention with its associated needle and the yarn eye, so much only of these parts b elng shown as necessary toshow the connectlon of the present invention therewith; Fig. 2 1s a plan view looking from below of the combination web holder and sinker shown in F1g. 1; F1g. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 1 illustrating the combination sinker and web holder in position after the yarn has been kinked about the needle and the needle retracted to draw the new loop through the old loop; Fig. 4 1s a similar view showing the sinker retracted shghtly; Fig. 5 is a similar vieW in which the sinker has retracted to permit the new loop to be drawn down by the needle to the knock-over level; and Fig. 6 is a similar view in which the sinker and web holder unit has again advanced to secure the new loop in the web holder notch at the knock-over. level preparatory to the rise of the needle to form a new knitting wave.

Wlth the usual construction and arrangement of the sinker and needle, the sinker upon coming toward the needle is very liable to catch its upper point in the eye of the needle, and furthermore, due to the tip of the beard being above the top line of the sinker, upon the drawing down of the needle, the beard is very liable tocross to the Wrong side of the sinker. Where it has been attempted to overcome this difliculty by raising the needle somewhat hlgher to prevent the-upper point of the slnker from getting caught in the eye, there is stlll the danger that on the down stroke of the needle, the beard may cross'to the wrong side of the sinker.

The difficulties above referred to are overcome and other ends highly desirable in sinker yarn feedlng machines are attained by the novel construction and arrangement illustrated 1n F 1gs. 1 to .6. This construction and arrangement comprises a com ination sinker and web holder operating at substantially right angles to the usual spring beard needle. The needle is indicated at 6 and the sinker'and web holder unit at 8. A yarn eye is shown at 1 in Fig. 1. The combined web holder and sinker comprises a web holder nib 14, a sinker notch 16 and an intervening nib 18, all comosed of thin stock to permityarn to pass etween these parts and the adjacent needles. Above and in front of the sinker notch 'is a nose 20 made of heavier stock, which operates to center the sinker notch and the nibs between the needles. The nose is narrowed or rounded at its forward end to facilitate'its entry between the needles and has a point 22 which is far enough below the needle eye 12 to prevent the point from catching in it.

The intervening nib 18 is for the purpose of guiding and supporting the yarn when the direction of the knitting is reversed. as in making gores or selvages, and insures that the arn will be sunk about the first active needle at the proper height above the knock-over and held separated from the fabric on the knock-over. The throat 24 formed between loops beyond the back line of the needles while the needles are advanced to receive new yarn.

The parts are constructed and arranged so 5 that at the limit-of the upstroke of the needle the tip of the needle beard remains below the top line of the sinker, the needle beard being at all times guided between the sinkers during the downward movement of the 3 needle. The nib 18 is always engaged between the needles during the forward thrust of the sinker and web holder unit 8 when the needles are raised. This is an advantage especially in fine gage machines where the nibs must necessarily be thin and are easily bent and consequently diflicult to line up with the slots between the needles. The nib 18 clears itself from between the needles to permit the new loop to be drawn down to the knock-over level but is again advanced across the line of the needles before they are raised and remains in engagement between them when the unit 8 is partially withdrawn to allow new yarn to be fed to the sinker by the yarn eye. In order thatthe nib 18 may remain in engagement between the needles during the feeding of the yarn, the nib must be sufficiently long to allow the yarn eye to operate between the sinker and the needles. \1 here a needle is bent or a sinker is out of line so that the side of the sinker is actually in contact with the needle the thick sinker head above mentioned will cause enough space to be left for the yarn between the thin sinker notch and the needle.

The operation of the parts herein described in forming a loop will be clearly evident from an inspection of Figs. 1 to 6 inclusive of the drawings illustrating the various steps in the operation.

In Fig. 1 the needle is raised and the sink er unit partially withdrawn to permit the yarn eye to zfeed new yarn to the needles. The

dotted lines illustrate the sinker pressing the 65 newyarn about the needle shank after the pasthe nibs 14 and 18 is utilized to force the oldsage of the yarn eye. In Fig. 3 the needle has been retracted pullin the new loop through the old and causing the yarn to be kinked or nearly kinked over the nibs 18. The sinker is then withdrawn slight-l by the pressure of the yarn or positively by the action of an appropriate cam to the position illustrated in Fig. 4. From this point the sinker is retracted to disengage the yarn from the nib 18 and allow it to be drawn down to the knock-over level by a further retract-ion of the needle, as illustrated in Fig. 5. The sinker and web holder unit is finally advanced, placing the loop in the notch formed between the nibs 14 and 18 as shown in Fig. 6 to permit the needle to rise in a new knitting wave.

The nature and scope of the invention having been indicated and one embodiment thereof having been specifically described, what is claimed is 1. In a spring needle knitting machine, the combination of a series of needles, spring beards for the needles having tips which at the limit of the upward stroke of the needles are placedabove the yarn sinkin level and below the upper surface of the sin kers, and a series of sinkers associated with the needles to feed the yarn thereto shaped so that the portion of the sinker above the throat first entering between the needles is below the needle beard tip in its raised position.

2. A yarn sinker for a knitting machine adapted to operate between the needles having a throat and projecting lower portion composed of thin stock to permit the passage of yarn between the sinker and the adjacent v needles, and a portion above and in advance of the throat of heavier stock to center the throat between the needles.

3. Acombination sinker and web holder for a knitting machine adapted to operate between the needles having a sinker throat, a web holder throat and an intervening nib composed of thin stock to permit the passage of yarn between these parts and the adjacent needles, and a portion above and in advance of the sinker throat of heavier stock to center the sinker between the needles.

4. A combination sinker and web holderfor a knitting machine adapted co operate between the needles having a sinker throat, a web holder throat, an intervening nib, and a web holder nib all composed of thin stock to perm1t the passage of the yarn between these parts and the adjacent needles, the intervening nib being of sufiicient length to be at all times engaged between the needles during the forward thrust of the sinker with the needles in raised position, and a portion above and in advance of the sinker-throat composed of heavier stock to center the throat between the needles. 5. Aeombination sinker and web holder for a knitting machine adapted to operate between the needles having a sinker throat, a

Web holder throat, and knock-over and Web holder nibs composed of thin stock to permit the passage of yarn between these parts and the adjacent needles, and a portion above and in advance of the sinker throat of heavier stock so shaped that the part of said portion first enterin between the needles is below the needle bear tip in its raised position.

MAX C. MILLER. 

